Water is vital to the success of a heavily managed wetland habitat like Bosque del Apache and refuge staff are now shifting their focus to new management techniques to conserve and more efficiently use what precious little the refuge has.

In order to adequately inform these efforts, Jonathan Dowell, Ph.D. and Chief Scientist at Hydro Sphere, Inc., has been utilizing three stationary systems and a roving probe to sample five additional fields at Bosque del Apache. This project, which started collecting soil moisture data in late June, will help paint a clearer picture of what we can expect in the future at this important refuge.